Back in his heyday as a cocaine kingpin, the late Pablo Escobar built a zoo on his palatial hacienda. According to a BBC report, the descendants of the four hippos he imported have not only survived, but are thriving in Colombia's drought-free climate.
From the article:
Here, conditions for hippos are idyllic. The river is slow moving and has plenty of shallows, perfect for larger animals which don't actually swim but push themselves off banks, gliding through the water. Moreover, the region never experiences drought, which tends to act as a natural brake on the size of herds in Africa.
How much the hippos like Colombia can be judged from how much sex they are having. In Africa they usually become sexually active between the ages of seven and nine for males, and nine and 11 for females, but Pablo Escobar's hippos are becoming sexually active as young as three. All the fertile females are reported to be giving birth to a calf every year.
(Score: 1) by JNCF on Tuesday July 01 2014, @11:40PM
I, for one, welcome our new inbred hippopotamus overlords.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday July 01 2014, @11:41PM
There was a entrepreneur in Colombia for which, I hear, $0.5M wasn't quite a problem - he even managed to create a Zoo for the kids. I wonder how he did it?
(ducks)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Funny) by bob_super on Wednesday July 02 2014, @03:21AM
He had built his company like a true Patriot, bypassing the ham-fisted overreach of his government and oppressive international treaties, who always tried take away his guns and destroy his entrepreneurial spirit.
He faced those who opposed his sincerely held beliefs in the international marketability of local renewable resources, a was a creator of real jobs for real citizens.
He showed that a great leader deserves his pay for his relentless focus on his customers, stakeholders, and market growth.
That's why he could leave in a great home and build his zoo, and anyone who pretends otherwise is just a jealous entitled leech.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 02 2014, @03:33AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 02 2014, @12:24AM
Pygmy hippos are an endangered species.
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday July 02 2014, @12:38AM
Well, send them on, I hear sex in Colombia is fun.
(ducks)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by hoochiecoochieman on Wednesday July 02 2014, @09:57AM
When I look at Shakira or Sofia Vergara, I feel the same, too.
(Score: 2) by EvilJim on Wednesday July 02 2014, @02:13AM
well, that settles it, time to send some breeding stock of the worlds most endangered animals to Columbia for preservation.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday July 02 2014, @02:45AM
* white flippered penguin [wikipedia.org]
* Desert tortoise [wikipedia.org]
* Thylarctos plummetus [australianmuseum.net.au]
* Galapagos penguin [wikipedia.org]
* Oxyuranus Hulaii [wikia.com]
* Haggis scoticus [wikipedia.org]
* the Fat-Arsed Wombat [wikipedia.org]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by EvilJim on Wednesday July 02 2014, @03:53AM
bahahaha, lets breed the crap out of the Haggis, drop bears and hoop snakes. nice to see a penguin from NZ on the list. we're also down to only like 40 Maui Dolphin or something really sad here.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday July 02 2014, @04:08AM
I think they'll do just fine in Colombia... if only they'll be willing to climb a bit to Pico Cristobal Colon or Pico Simon Bolivar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by EvilJim on Wednesday July 02 2014, @04:19AM
just keep them in a freezer, that'll fix the temperature difference.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday July 02 2014, @04:57AM
Then... you know?... do or don't unto penguins etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by EvilJim on Wednesday July 02 2014, @05:44AM
have you never hooked up with an inuit? that's the only place they'll do it in a warm climate ;)
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday July 02 2014, @09:32AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by EvilJim on Wednesday July 02 2014, @10:18PM
hahahaha, that made me laugh more than I should have... thanks ;)
If anyone doesn't get it, I was referring to the politically correct term for Eskimo's
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 02 2014, @05:50AM
In the late 1800s the US Congress voted on a bill to promote hippo ranching in louisiana [wired.com] in order to fix a meat shortage and help clear out the invasive water hyacinth from the rivers.
This American Life even did a bit about it. [thisamericanlife.org]
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday July 02 2014, @12:54PM
Hippos are scary. In the zoo 20 feet away with a fence and a moat they're cool, but live an in person they're scary. They kill more people than any other megafauna (are they big enough to count as megafauna if they're smaller than some walmart shoppers?). I'm told by african friends (real africans) that hippos kill more people than all other animals put together in their country. Well, other than counting people as animals (aka murder, war, police,...)
Anyway the first thing I thought is the guy was in a line of business where life is cheap and not very civilized, so I wondered if he fed people to the hippos or tossed them in the cage for the hippos to kill them.
You know the stereotype of bulls that city slickers have? Real bulls aren't that scary, but still demand respect. Anyway a hippo is like the city slicker stereotype of a bull on PCP after drinking 5 gallons of monster energy drink while having a case of the PMS and trying to emulate its idea of a momma grizzly protecting its young. And I'm talking about real hippos not fat chicks at walmart, those are water buffalo everyone knows that.
They're also unpredictable. Maybe a good analogy is the homeless guys on the street corners, got plenty where I work. Most of the time they sit there, but then outta nowhere you hear on the news how one jumped up with a broken wine bottle and stabbed some random suit who walked by the wrong place at the wrong time. Thats a hippo. MOstly chill, then outta nowhere for no reason, its the grizzly bear on PCP thing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 02 2014, @03:12PM
The article says these Colombian hippos haven't injured anyone. School children even swim in the same ponds as hippos.
(Score: 1) by looorg on Wednesday July 02 2014, @03:07PM
But does the coke have anything to do with their breeding? How many lines does a hippo have to snort for it to have effect. That is what I want to know ...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 03 2014, @12:50AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BzeRiFkSZw [youtube.com]
SUPERB remix of this classic anti-drug song! :D
It's better that the original version!